…”Hold me responsible if we are not going to disburse this fund” Jaji Sambo
The Minister of Transportation, Eng Muazu Jaji Sambo has announced an approval for the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) by President Muhammadu Buhari with immediate effect.
Sambo made the disclosure on Saturday at the flag off ceremony of the third phase of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Program (NSDP) held at the Naval dockyard in Lagos.
Sambo said “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved my request for the disbursement of the CVFF Fund. Finally, we are breaking the 17-year old jinx.
“Hold me responsible if we are not going to disburse this fund. I am taking my integrity on the signature of the President. That is all I can say. Now, to give you a little enlightenment about what happened even under my immediate predecessor who actually had gotten an approval from Mr. President that could not be implemented was because of some administrative challenges the Ministry of Transportation had with the Federal Ministry of Finance”
You may recall that the CVFF is a statutory Fund created by the National Assembly under Section 42 to Nigerian operators in the domestic coastal shipping.
“We identified those gaps and we make sure that in our prayers for the President, we addressed those gaps. The first banks that have been approved by the President to disburse the CVFF are Union Bank, Polaris, Zenith, UBA, and Jaiz bank.
*The choice of these banks are based on the set out guidelines. There are criteria surrounding the choice of the banks and these banks we recommended to Mr. President. And based on these guidelines, Mr. President has approved.”
“The fund has both Naira and dollar components. I think now we have nothing less than 16 billion Naira in terms of the Naira component. And we have the dollar component of about 350 million dollars. So, when you convert the Naira component into the dollar, you’ll now have the increment of what the former Minister announced to you” Sambo added.
He announced that NIMASA is set to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund, CVVF adding that the agency will also ensure that indigenous operators compete favourably with their foreign counterparts for business.